Friday, March 22, 2013

This message delivered by the Rev. J. Herbert Nelson, Director for
Public Witness, at the Loaves and Fishes
gathering on Wednesday, March 20, 2013, at Upper Senate Park on Capitol Hill,
Washington, DC. The gathering was organized by my faith organizations and was intended to call attention to and to protect
programs that impact the poor in the United States.

A
Moral Crisis

Today we are faced with a crisis in our nation. Our nation faces a moment
of intense pause, which cannot simply be defined in economic terms. Our crisis
is one of moral ineptness in high places. We are now in the midst of a
sequester – across-the-board, indiscriminate spending cuts – that results from
a weakness in moral character that has led to stalemate. This stalemate is the struggle over our
vision of our government’s responsibility to support the most vulnerable over and
against funding wealthy people and multinational corporations through tax
breaks. Central to this stalemate is the question of government’s
responsibility to support the “least of these.”

My book of faith reminds me that Jesus declared, “Just as you have done
it unto the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you have done it unto me.”
(Matthew 25:40) He reminds us that righteousness is etched into the fabric of
our willingness to claim residence in the lives and hearts of those whose steps
falter on the highway of life. He further reminds us that the act of turning
away from the needs of the poor is synonymous with turning away from the son of
God. Therefore, the present moral crisis in leadership is more than budget or
party ideology. This crisis, caused by our leadership in Congress, is at the
core of our spiritual consciousness.

We are acting out of a posture of scarcity rather than abundance. Our
resources are not scarce; they are abundant!
But we are failing to make sure they get to the people who need them
most. Instead, we contemplate cuts to Medicaid, which supports the uninsured;
the disabled; the amputee; the mentally ill; the trace nurse who must be in our
schools for the child who needs medical attention. Or we contemplate cutting
programs that feed hungry families and Head Start early childhood education for
low-income children, who will otherwise not know their colors or numbers when
they enter the kindergarten. In this nation, we build jail cells based on
fourth grade reading levels and homelessness is pervasive in every city,
village, and hamlet. How can we declare that the “haves” ought to have more
while the “have-not’s” get less? This is a reverse Robin Hood plan, where the
poor get poorer and the rich get richer. It is destined for failure! And, we
are a better people than that!

We are not bankrupt! There is enough! We must challenge this President
and Congress to remember that two candidates ran for the office of President in
2012. One promised to end tax breaks for the wealthy. The other promised to
maintain tax breaks for the wealthy. One promised to end corporate welfare. The
other promised to end welfare for the most vulnerable of our society. We waded
through the debates and made it to the general election. The nation spoke at
the voting booth in overwhelming numbers to decide that the candidate who vowed
to tax corporations and high-income individuals at a higher rate would serve as
the President of this country. Now that the nation has spoken, there is this
desire to ignore the vote of the people and return to the fiscal policies that
placed us in the doldrums of despair in the first place. Now, there is the
desire to place whole communities of people in desperation mode again.

We must hold this President accountable for doing what he said he would
do, while declaring to those who would push back that the people have
spoken. We must move from this current
model – of government of the corporations, by the powerful and elite, and for
tax loopholes – to the vision of the founders, who declared that we are a
government of the people, by the people, and for the people. There is enough
when we are responsible to whole communities with the wealth that God has
provided.

We must press for the day when elected officials will be reminded that
they work for the people and not for themselves. We must build bridges of hope
for future generations by the way we act now. Our nation will be judged by its
moral excellence in times of crisis. Therefore, let us get busy pushing for
fiscal policies that matter to the people. Let us remember that the people
united will never be defeated! For as you have done it unto the least of these,
my brothers and sisters, you have done it unto me!

Get the latest from Washington on the
current state of affairs in Congress. Hear about what is making compromise so
elusive among our elected leaders. The House and Senate are about to release
their budget proposals for the next fiscal year. Sequestration has been
implemented. But it doesn’t have to stay. Untangle the budget rhetoric and learn
why standing with those in need is as important as ever.

* Note: Office of Public Witness staff person, Leslie Woods, is co-chair of the DHN Working Group.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

As communities of faith united by our common religious traditions and values of justice and compassion, we write to you today to urge you to co-sponsor and support the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013 recently introduced by Senator Tom Harkin and Representative George Miller.

This important piece of legislation would raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 in three increments of 95 cents. The bill would also provide for annual increases indexed to inflation to keep pace with the rising cost of living. Lastly, for the first time in 22 years, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013 would raise the minimum wage for tipped workers from its current low rate of $2.13 by 95 cents per year until it is 70% of the regular minimum wage.

Four years have passed since the official end of the recession, yet workers across the country continue to struggle with a sluggish recovery. Now is the time to raise the federal minimum wage. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), 30 million workers would see a boost to their income if this bill passed. In addition, the Fair Minimum Wage Act would boost GDP by $33 billion and generate 140,000 new jobs, encouraging workers to spend more money in their communities and stimulate local economies.

Our common scriptures present a vision of shared responsibility, commanding that we care for the vulnerable among us and also endows the notion of work with an inherent dignity. Right now, it is imperative that our nation’s leaders keep our economy on the pathway to a healthy recovery and support low-wage workers. We believe you can do so by co-sponsoring and supporting the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013.

To sign on as a co-sponsor please contact Celine McNicholas (Celine.McNicholas@mail.house.gov) in Representative Miller’s office or Liz Weiss (Liz_Weiss@help.senate.gov) in Senator Harkin’s office.

Sincerely,

American Friends Service Committee
Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE-LA)
Cincinnati Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice (CICWJ)
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
Detroit Interfaith Worker Justice
Disciples Justice Action Network
The Episcopal Church
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition
Interfaith Worker Justice
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
The Jewish Labor Committee
Jewish Women International
Leadership Conference on Women Religious (LCWR)
Let Justice Roll
National Advocacy center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
National Council of Jewish Women
NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Office of Social Justice of the Christian Reformed Church
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Sisters of Mercy Institute Justice Team
South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice
Union for Reform Judaism
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries
The United Methodist Church- General Board of Church and Society
U.S. Jesuit Conference

Last Thursday, Feb. 28, the House of
Representatives passed S. 47, a strong, inclusive bill to reauthorize the
landmark Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), by a vote of 286-138. The same bill was passed by the Senate just
weeks before with a vote of 78-22. As you see, both of these votes included a
strong, bipartisan showing. This just
goes to show that there are still some issues that unite us across party lines.

The VAWA
reauthorization now moves to the President’s desk for signature. President Obama is expected to sign the bill
on Thursday, March 7.

Thank you for all of your hard work to make this
happen! Please take a minute to thank your Members of Congress for this
important legislation that will provide new resources and support for victims
of violence.

Since its original passage in 1994, the Violence Against
Women Act (VAWA) has dramatically enhanced our nation’s response to violence
against girls and women, boys and men. More victims report domestic violence to
the police and the rate of non-fatal intimate partner violence against women
has decreased by 64%. VAWA provides for
a coordinated community approach, improving collaboration between law
enforcement and victim services providers to better meet the needs of victims.
These comprehensive and cost-effective programs not only save lives, they also
save money. In fact, VAWA saved nearly $12.6 billion in net averted social
costs in just its first six years.

VAWA’s programs support state, tribal, and local
efforts to address the pervasive and insidious crimes of domestic violence,
dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
These programs have made great progress towards reducing the violence,
helping victims to be healthy and feel safe and holding perpetrators
accountable. This critical legislation
must be reauthorized to ensure a continued response to these crimes. This particular reauthorization of VAWA also
included important new provisions to improve protection and support for native
women, immigrants, LGBT victims, and campus women. Click here for more information about
the new Violence Against Women Act.

And in addition to the success of an inclusive
VAWA, the final bill also included the Trafficking Victims Protection
Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) (S. 1301), a positive bill that is the United
States’ most important tool in fighting against human trafficking and
modern-day slavery. For
a factsheet on S.1301, click here.

About Me

The Presbyterian Office of Public Witness is the public policy information and advocacy office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Its task is to advocate, and help the church to advocate, the social witness perspectives and policies of the Presbyterian General Assembly. The church has a long history of applying these biblically and theologically-based insights to issues that affect the public — maintaining a public policy ministry in the nation's capital since 1946.
Reformed theology teaches that because a sovereign God is at work in all the world, the church and Christian citizens should be concerned about public policy. In addition, Presbyterian forefather John Calvin wrote, "Civil magistry is a calling not only holy and legitimate, but by far the most sacred and honorable in human life."